The trick to eating gildas—the famous Basque Country pintxo, AKA bar snack—is to put the whole toothpick spear in your mouth at once, to chomp confidently down on the olive, pickled guindilla pepper, and silver-skinned anchovy in one single, briny bite.
But if anchovies aren’t your favorite (they’re a polarizing little fish, it’s true), there’s a treasure chest’s worth of Spanish delicacies for you to choose from at San Román Bakery and Deli and Tasca Madrid, new sister spots from Alberto Blanco and Oscar Yoc Garcia on St. Paul’s Western Avenue.
Maybe you’re packing a picnic for a leaf-peeping trip up the highway: The ham and Manchego cheese sandwiches are an easy yes, as are the spiced white beans, glossy green marinated olives, and crispy little mussel croquettes.
If you’re sitting down for a full meal at Tasca Madrid, what else is there to order besides the paella, cooked in a traditional paellera as broad as a bike wheel and topped with fat rosy prawns, or the crispy chicharrones, the pork rinds cooked ever so slowly to tenderize the fat and then crisped up irresistibly?
The most essential tip here, however, is to indulge fully in the range of Spanish pastries: Basque cheesecakes, caramelized on their tops; twisted churros served with chocolate for dipping; Galician almond cakes dusted with powdered sugar; and creamy pastel de nata, borrowed, of course, from Portugal. 173 Western Ave. N., St. Paul, 952-214-4884
Dining and Cooking